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Warning to Reid on Lame Duck Confirmations

Conservative leaders, including yours truly, delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today, urging him “in the strongest possible terms not to use the ‘lame duck’ session to force votes on the confirmation of any nominees for federal office.”

The letter emphasizes that many of the nominees that might be confirmed during the lame duck session “are still before the Senate precisely because of concerns about their radical and controversial views.” A Senate that “has already been replaced by the American people has no business confirming such controversial nominees to federal office,” the letter adds.

On November 2, the American people rejected the liberal agenda that has been pushed by the Obama Administration and its most controversial pending nominees. If Senate Democrats try to confirm these controversial nominees during the lame duck session, they will be showing contempt for American voters.

In the letter, we call attention to the 16 “most egregious” pending judicial and executive branch nominees. The list includes two appeals court nominees (Goodwin Liu and Robert Chatigny), three district court nominees (John McConnell, Edward Chen and Louis Butler), as well as nominees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Chai Feldlbum and Jacqueline Berrien) and the National Labor Relations Board (Craig Becker). Also on the list are John Podesta, nominated to the Corporation for National & Community Service; James Cole, the Deputy Attorney General nominee; and Donald Berwick, who was recess appointed to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Cross-posted at the Committee for Justice blog, where the full text of the letter, including the list of signers and the list of the 16 most controversial nominees, is available.